In more developed countries, only one out of every 13,000 mothers and one out of every 333 infants is likely to die. Other developing countries including China, Sri Lanka and Indonesia have shown that the neither the size of the economy nor population need be a deterrent in addressing this challenge effectively. So while India’s progress is encouraging in absolute terms, it does not provide solace to the more than 20 million mothers and infants that we weren’t able to save during the last 20 years, or to the 10 million more mothers and children that are likely to die in the next 10. We clearly have a long way to go before we can claim some success in making India significantly safer for our mothers and children.

The pace of change has to accelerate and we have to do much more than we have over the last 20 years. It is in this context that it is exciting to look at the opportunities presented by the mobile revolution in India.

This presents an opportunity to address many needs of the underserved populations in India. In health, mobile based solutions are being tested in many countries around the world, including India, to explore how these devices can help improve services. Specifically, mobile based solutions are being used to explore how relevant information can be provided to the most vulnerable people so they can access more government-provided health services. Target users are empowered with information on when, where and how to utilize these services. In return, this generation of demand may push the government to provide better services. A number of different models are also exploring how the mobile device can be used to empower doctors and healthcare providers to deliver better care to target populations. This can help improve the efficiency and the sophistication of the services provided.

The mobile revolution is no panacea to India’s challenges in meeting health commitments to our mothers and children. We still need to understand better what services may work best and how underserved populations use mobile phones. We still need to invest in more healthcare workers and improve availability of these services into India’s vast landscape. Despite the challenges, the use of mobile phones to provide better healthcare is a unique opportunity to provide a better future to our mothers and children, and I am confident that our work in mHealth will not only be one solution in and of itself, but it will also help strengthen more traditional health interventions.